Dear Colleagues,

Environmental monitoring is of primary importance to preserve the quality of ecosystems. It has been widely recognized that the environmental impact of contaminants can be exacerbated due to the concomitant climate change, as a result of increased concentrations of harmful chemical species in aquatic systems, changes in their mobility and bioavailability, acidification and eutrophication processes, etc. To promote environmental sustainability, a strict analytical control of the different environmental compartments (water, soil, sediment, atmosphere, and biota) is mandatory. Although central labs can tackle environmental analysis using well-established analytical techniques with high-quality benchtop instruments, there is an increasing need for fast chemical information with enough accuracy and precision and allowing spatial and temporal distribution of the different contaminants. For this purpose, there is an urgent need for novel detection technologies that are miniaturized, portable, robust, have minimal sample pretreatment, low in energy consumption, low in production costs, and able to be deployed in the field.

For this purpose, the implementation of suitable nanomaterials and functional materials with tailored properties for the detection of chemical species is an emerging area that needs to be explored. Carbon-based nanomaterials (e.g., graphene, carbon nanotubes, and carbon quantum dots), noble metal nanoparticles (e.g., gold and silver palladium), semiconductor nanomaterials (e.g., quantum dots), magnetic and non-magnetic oxides (e.g., magnetite, titanium dioxide, and silica), metal sulfides, supramolecular compounds (e.g., chitosan, dendrimers, calixarene, and metal organic frameworks), and composites (combination of one or two functional materials) possess excellent properties—mechanical, electrical, catalytic, magnetic, optical, etc.—that make them attractive for the design of novel sensing approaches in order to cope with challenges posed by the contamination of ecosystems. This Special Issue aims to gather the most recent advances in the applications of nanomaterials and functional materials for environmental analysis. Both innovative original papers and authoritative reviews are welcome. I look forward to your valuable contributions.

Prof. Dr. José Carlos Bendicho Hernández
Guest Editor

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• environmental analysis
• sensors
• nanomaterials
• functional materials
• on-site detection
• contaminants